Active clinical trials for "Psychotic Disorders"

Women with a close relative who has experienced mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder often have a poor understanding of the causes of the illness, and are often very worried about the chance that any children that they have will become affected with the same illness. Often, because of this fear, these healthy women choose not to have children. Genetic counseling is a process where information about the causes of illnesses, and about chances for family members of individuals with these illnesses to become similarly affected is provided in a supportive environment by a specially trained healthcare professional. This study will investigate whether genetic counseling can reduce perceptions of risk and stigma, and increase perceived control and knowledge about the causes of the illness, amongst women who have a first degree relative with a major mental illness.

The major goal of this project is to adapt an existing group-based psychosocial program to enhance community functioning in older people with serious mental illness (SMI). The focus of the adaptation is designing and evaluating an individually based rehabilitative program for older people with SMI who either cannot or choose not to access a group program.

Aim 1: To evaluate the effect of antipsychotic treatment group on Activity Energy Expenditure. The project hypothesizes that subjects treated with olanzapine will demonstrate a greater decrease in AEE over time than subjects treated with ziprasidone, due at least in part to sedating effects of olanzapine. Aim 2: To evaluate the effect of antipsychotic treatment group on Energy Intake. The project hypothesizes that subjects treated with olanzapine will demonstrate a greater increase in EI over time than subjects treated with ziprasidone, based on higher histamine type 1 (H1) receptor affinity of olanzapine and the relationship between H1 affinity and hunger and/or satiety.

Assessment of ziprasidone safety and efficacy in the treatment of bipolar and schizoaffective disorders.

Weight gain is a serious, common side effect of many antipsychotic medications. On average, the highest amounts of weight gain are found to occur in people taking clozaril and olanzapine, but with significant weight gain occuring in those on the other atypical antipsychotics as well. We, the researchers at the University of North Carolina, propose an open-label observational, pilot study of the changes in weight, BMI, body composition, and lipids, glucose, insulin and other metabolic parameters occurring in subjects as they switch from treatment with olanzapine, risperidone or quetiapine to aripiprazole. This medication switch will be determined prior to their entering this study by their treating psychiatrist. We also will determine resting energy expenditure (REE) and respiratory quotient (RQ) as measured by metabolic cart to determine if either energy expenditure or the propensity to store energy as fat may be involved in any changes to weight that are detected. Food intake, hunger, and physical activity will also be assessed.

The purpose of this study is to determine if Risperdal Consta will affect the healthcare utilization costs in chronically ill schizophrenic patients with multiple admissions to the psychiatric hospital compared to the previous utilization costs under standard oral treatment of any atypical antipsychotic. We hypothesize that higher Risperdal Consta acquisition costs can be offset by reduction in total medical utilization costs, such as hospitalizations, ER visits, unscheduled outpatient visits or incarcerations due to worsening of psychotic symptoms.

This study examines whether patients with schizophrenia can benefit from a problem-solving training intervention and whether a work-related social skills training intervention leads to improvements in the patient's performance at work.

Schizophrenia is one of society's most costly medical conditions and the most severe among psychiatric disorders. One of the most important and exciting new concepts in psychiatry is that detection and intervention very early in the course of schizophrenia offers what may be the field's best practical hope for realizing substantive improvements in the outcome of schizophrenia or schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Thus, we propose a five year program that focuses on three interconnected major research streams: (1) an evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a model-driven psychological intervention in preventing or delaying the onset of a psychotic illness; (2) a qualitative study of the pathways to mental health at this time of very high risk; and (3) an exploration of the burden to the healthcare and informal caregiver systems associated with this high risk population.

Digital medicine systems (DMS) have been designed to assist individuals with the management of their daily health, wellness, and medication use. The DMS is being developed as a healthcare management tool to precisely measure medication adherence and to potentially enhance adherence.

This study will investigate the occurrence of psychosis-spectrum disorders among youth in the Juvenile Justice System and track mental health referrals for these youth in Phase 1, a standard care condition. Then, in Phase 2, an enhanced referral and linkage to care model will be employed, with the aim of bolstering motivation for and engagement in mental health treatment. It is hypothesized that the enhanced referral protocol will promote completion of mental health care referrals.